Vote in Portsmouth: Low emission zone coming!
Tyre abrasion is one of the main causes of microplastics in the atmosphere. New studies show for the first time how widespread microplastics, fine dust and Co. are.
In early March 2020, the government informed Portsmouth City Council that the port city must introduce a Class B Clean Air Zone (CAZ) by the end of this year at the latest, focusing on certain buses, taxis and trucks. An online survey of the proposed £50 per day charges for these types of vehicles will be launched from Wednesday next week. The City Council has already received more than £6 million to improve air quality to help improve active travel, install additional charging points for electric vehicles (EVs) and improve access to cycle paths.
"It is important that we do everything we can to improve air quality in Portsmouth. However, we have an obligation to do so, so let's make sure we do it in the best possible way by giving everyone the opportunity to say how it will work and those affected can give us their views on how the funding can be shared fairly," said Dave Ashmore, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change.
This is democracy in action! The Portsmouth model is an impressive demonstration that road users should be much more closely involved in comparable processes and decisions in order to ensure transparency in procedures and thus trust in politicians.